Tag: hate law

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Atlantic Coast Conference Pulls 10 Championship Events From North Carolina Over HB2

Following yesterday’s announcement from the NCAA to pull 7 championship events from North Carolina due to the anti-LGBT HB2 legislation, the Atlantic Coast Conference has followed suit by announcing 10 championship events will also be pulled from North Carolina.

The Atlantic Coast Conference voted Wednesday to find other sites for its championship games through the 2016-17 school year while the law remains in effect.

The 10 events include baseball, basketball, soccer, diving, tennis and golf.

Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, issued a statement which read in part, “It has never been more clear than it is right now – HB2 is hurting our state every minute that it remains law.”

Via press release:

Statement from the ACC Council of Presidents:
“As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC Council of Presidents reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination. Every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to these values and therefore, we will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites. We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year. All locations will be announced in the future from the conference office.”

Statement from Clemson University President James P. Clements, chair of the ACC Council of Presidents:
“The ACC presidents engaged in a constructive, wide-ranging and vigorous discussion of this complex issue over the past two days. The decision to move the neutral site championships out of North Carolina while HB 2 remains the law was not an easy one but it is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and non-discrimination at all of our institutions.”

Statement from ACC Commissioner John Swofford:
“The ACC Council of Presidents made it clear that the core values of this league are of the utmost importance, and the opposition to any form of discrimination is paramount. Today’s decision is one of principle, and while this decision is the right one, we recognize there will be individuals and communities that are supportive of our values as well as our championship sites that will be negatively affected. Hopefully, there will be opportunities beyond 2016-17 for North Carolina neutral sites to be awarded championships.”

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Ellen Explains Mississippi’s New Anti-LGBT Law To You

Ellen DeGeneres took a few minutes to talk about Mississippi’s new anti-LGBT law that allows business owners to legal deny services and goods to LGBT folks via “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

So, if you don’t know, the Governor of the state signed a religious freedom bill, which might sound good because the word freedom is in it. But here’s what it means.

Under the law, if you say for religious reasons you can ‘deny gay people marriage, adoption and foster care services; fire or refuse to employ them; and decline to rent or sell them property.’

Now, I’m not a political person, I’m really not. But this is not politics this is human rights. And I mean, when I see something wrong, I have to talk about it. It’s the same thing that I do when I see men wearing Spandex in line at Starbucks. It’s wrong and I need to discuss it.

So, this issue is very personal to me, obviously. I’m disappointed for several reasons. First of all, Mississippi is the only state I know how to spell. Second of all, that is the definition of discrimination.

So, if you’re in Mississippi or North Carolina or anywhere, and you’re saddened by the fact that people are judging you based on who you love, don’t lose hope. I was fired for being gay, I know what it feels like. I lost everything. And look at me now. I could buy that governor’s mansion, flip it and make a $7 million dollar profit.